5025. Poultice for Sprains and Bruises

5025.   Poultice for Sprains and Bruises. Carbonate ammonia, 2 ounces; vinegar, 2 pints; proof spirits, 3 pints. Mix the ammonia and vinegar; when the effervescence ceases, add the spirit. For inflammation of the joints, of some standing, mix with aniseed meal, and use as a poultice twice a day. It is also valuable for sprains, bruises, and other injuries.

5026. Charcoal Poultice

5026.   Charcoal Poultice. Linseed meal, 1/2 pound; charcoal powder, 2 ounces; hot water, sufficient to give it the necessary consistence. Or: Soak 2 ounces bread in 1/2 pint boiling water; add to this, by degrees, 10 drachms linseed meal; and, afterwards, 2 drachms powdered fresh charcoal; then sprinkle 1 drachm powdered charcoal on the surface of the poultice. This poultice is highly antiseptic; that is to say, it has great power in cleansing ulcers and correcting a tendency to mortification. The power is derived from the charcoal, which is remarkable for its purifying energy. It should be frequently renewed. Dr. Bird, in his work on the medical uses of charcoal, gives numerous proofs of the efficacy of this application. Besides purifying and healing, it conteracts the offensive smell arising from putrid sores.

5027. Yeast Poultice

5027.    Yeast Poultice. Take of milk, blood-warm, 1 pint; yeast, 1 gill. Stir in fine slippery elm bark, to form a poultice. This is a good antiseptic and refrigerant poultice. Applied to gangrenous ulcers, it is more efficacious than any others; it sooner arrests mortification, used with proper auxiliaries. It is also very serviceable in other species of inflammation.

5028. Indian Turnip Poultice

5028.    Indian Turnip Poultice. Take of the tops and roots of Indian turnip, if green; if dry, the roots only; simmer in water, and add slippery elm bark sufficient to form a poultice. This poultice is used in the treatment of scrofula with the best effect. It is superior to every other poultice in scrofula, in a state of swelling and inflammation.

5029. Potato Poultice

5029.    Potato Poultice. Boil the common potato, mash or bruise soft, and then stir in finely pulverized slippery elm bark. This poultice has been used with success in ophthalmia (inflammation of the eyes) of an acute character, when other means have failed.

5030. Goulard's Poultice

5030.    Goulard's Poultice. It is thus made: Take 11/2 drachms extract of lead (solution of acetate of lead); rectified spirit of wine, 2 ounces; water, 12 ounces; breadcrumb, sufficient to make the whole into a proper consistence. This poultice is an excel-lent application to reduce swelling and inflammation, and to allay irritation.

5031. Lobelia Poultice

5031.    Lobelia Poultice. Linseed meal, 1/4 ounce; slippery elm, 1 ounce; powdered lobelia, 11/2 ounces; ginger, 1 ounce; whiskey sufficient to make it. Good for all inflamed parts, as the side in pleurisy, liver complaints, rheumatism, lumbago.